A method for estimating the amplitude response of smartphone built-in microphone sensors below 4 kHz

J Acoust Soc Am. 2019 Jul;146(1):172. doi: 10.1121/1.5110723.

Abstract

A method for estimating the amplitude response of built-in smartphone microphone sensors is presented. The method is intended to be accessible to the general public, and comparison calibration measurements are performed in a non-isolated environment using conventional consumer products. A double reference sensor scheme is set up, consisting of a MB3 digital microbarometer (reference over the 0.5-2 Hz octave bands) and the iPrecisionMic smartphone microphone (reference above the 2 Hz octave band). The amplitude response of the iPrecisionMic sensor is first evaluated over the 1-2000 Hz octave bands. The amplitude response of three Samsung Galaxy S8 built-in smartphone microphone sensors is then measured over the 0.5-2000 Hz octave bands. The Redvox Infrasound Recorder application (app) for Android is used to measure acoustic signals with the built-in smartphone microphone sensors. Amplitude response models in terms of digital gain are estimated for the test sensors based on the results. Last, self-noise levels for the iPrecisionMic and Samsung Galaxy S8 microphones are estimated and compared to infrasound ambient noise models. Results show an experimental capability for estimating the amplitude response of built-in smartphone microphone sensors in a non-isolated environment with conventional consumer products.